Two year old Mena Kattaria plays with a balloon before the start of prayers at the ICCNY Islamic Center which was celebrating the last day of Ramadan Friday morning.

Two year old Mena Kattaria plays with a balloon before the start of prayers at the ICCNY Islamic Center which was celebrating the last day of Ramadan Friday morning.

Photo: David Ames

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Local Muslims celebrated the last day of Ramadan Friday morning at the ICCNY Islamic Center in Stamford.

Local Muslims celebrated the last day of Ramadan Friday morning at the ICCNY Islamic Center in Stamford.

Photo: David Ames

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Alhassane Diallo was in attendance for Friday mornings prayers at the ICCNY Islamic Center in celebration of the last day of Ramadan.

Alhassane Diallo was in attendance for Friday mornings prayers at the ICCNY Islamic Center in celebration of the last day of Ramadan.

Photo: David Ames

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Local Muslims attended morning prayers at the ICCNY Islamic center Friday in celebration of the last day of Ramadan.

Local Muslims attended morning prayers at the ICCNY Islamic center Friday in celebration of the last day of Ramadan.

Photo: David Ames

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Imam Tarek Kartia conducted morning prayers Friday at the ICCNY Islamic Center to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Imam Tarek Kartia conducted morning prayers Friday at the ICCNY Islamic Center to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Photo: David Ames

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Imam Tarek Kartia conducted morning prayers Friday at the ICCNY Islamic Center to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Imam Tarek Kartia conducted morning prayers Friday at the ICCNY Islamic Center to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Photo: David Ames

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Suzan Weiss, left, and Scarlett Wagner celebrated the end of Ramadan at the ICCNY Islamic Center Friday morning.

Suzan Weiss, left, and Scarlett Wagner celebrated the end of Ramadan at the ICCNY Islamic Center Friday morning.

Photo: David Ames

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Local Muslims mark end of Ramadan with Eid celebration

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STAMFORD -- Local Muslims gathered to celebrate Eid el-fitr, the religion's second-holiest holiday, for the first time in the newly renovated mosque on Washington Boulevard Friday morning.

Although national debate continues to rage over the proposed Islamic Center in lower Manhattan and a possible Quran burning in Florida, city Muslims said the recent controversies had not affected their celebration of the 4,000-year-old Islamic holiday in Stamford.

"It's definitely something that we're worried and concerned about," said Ingi Soliman, referring to the recent national scrutiny of Islam. "This is the first time we've had a sign outside, but thankfully so far we haven't felt any backlash."

Soliman is secretary of the mosque, which is part of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, an organization that moved from Westchester, N.Y., to Stamford in 1999. Between 150 and 200 gathered at the mosque Friday for the celebration of Eid el-fitr, or Eid, which marks the end of the month-long fasting for Ramadan.

The morning prayers were led by the mosque's temporary imam, Tarek Kattaria, who also delivered a lecture to the congregation.

"The theme was not to let any sadness or anything else take over," Kattaria said. "After a very hard month of fasting, this is our reward."

Prayers were followed by a large breakfast of doughnuts, bagels and the traditional cookie ka'ak, a sweet pastry filled with powdered sugar, nuts and honey. The congregation planned to spend the rest of the afternoon at Cove Island Park.

"The holiday is mostly for the children, to give them clothes and to go out in parks," Kattaria said.

Many children ran around the building waving light-up, noisemaking plastic wands they had been given for the holiday. Shereena Nishad, 26, sat quietly inside the room designated for women's shoes. Nishad moved to Stamford from India two years ago, where she said the celebration of Eid is generally similar, just on a larger scale.

"It's the same thing," she said. "There's prayer and food, but there's a bigger Muslim community there, so it's a larger crowd."

Keeping Nishad company was Kray Aryne, 52, who was visiting her son and his fiance from her home in Amman, Jordan. Aryne said she was saddened by the threats from a priest in Florida to host a Quran burning at his church.

"In any religion, there are the extremes," she said. "But religion is known for forgiveness. As Muslims, we would ask God to bless him and we would hope that one day he would understand Islam correctly."

George Martino, who converted to Islam from Greek Orthodoxy 38 years ago while serving with the U.S. Navy in Morocco, said he worried that a burning of the Quran would endanger American troops stationed abroad. He said he believes the backlash from a public burning of the Islamic holy book would be more violent than the lethal riots that broke out in 2006 after a Danish cartoonist drew the prophet Mohammad with a bomb fuse protruding from his turban.

"Thank God all the religious leaders seem to be condemning (the priest in Florida)," Martino said. "If he does go through with it, I'm really worried about what will happen to our soldiers overseas."

Martino, who lives in Queens, has been a member of the ICCNY for 30 years. He said he was attracted to religion after falling out of touch with his Christian heritage.

"I liked the idea that everyone was created equal," he said. "The Quran is a religious book, but it's also a way of life."

Martino said that given the political climate, he was relieved that Eid had fallen on Sept. 10 this year and not a day later.

"We were very happy that it didn't fall on Sept. 11," he said. "People don't understand that our religion follows a lunar calendar."

Because the Islamic calendar depends on the movements of the moon, Eid is celebrated 11 days earlier each year than the year before, Martino said. Throughout a Muslim's lifetime, he or she will observe the holiday during winter, spring, summer and autumn.

For the month of Ramadan, which ended Thursday, Muslims abstain from food and water from sun up until sunset, breaking the fast each night with dinners called iftars. Eid el-fitr, which translates to "celebration of fast-breaking," is basically a big celebration of the end of month-long fasting. The other Eid holiday, Eid al-Adha, is known as the "Greater Eid" and corresponds with the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. It will be celebrated in November this year.

Amir Badr, property manager of the mosque, said that despite all the recent controversy, he feels comfortable observing his religion in Stamford.

"I believe this is a very well-educated people with very few prejudices," Badr said. "It's good to be a Muslim in Stamford."